Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

How To Feel Calmer, Less Stressed & More Present with Henry Shukman #632

201 snips

Mar 4, 2026

Henry Shukman, an authorized Zen teacher and director of Mountain Cloud Zen Center, shares a gentle take on meditation and presence. He discusses why a busy mind is exactly why practice matters. He explains how short, daily sitting can restore inner attention, change our sense of time, soften emotion, and make ordinary moments feel alive.

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ANECDOTE

Henry's Early Use Of Distraction For Physical Pain

Henry used music and headphones to distract himself from a painful childhood skin condition while avoiding discomfort.
That personal example shows how he learned to move from distraction to tenderly facing sensations through practice.

INSIGHT

Letting Go Brings The Benefits

Treating meditation as a performance tool (optimization) is incomplete; benefits often arrive by relinquishing the grasp for specific outcomes.
Henry argues letting go of expectations cultivates patience and self-kindness that allow benefits to emerge.

INSIGHT

Meditation Expands Your Capacity For Life

Regular meditation increases capacity for life by enabling richer presence during ordinary activities and changing experience of time.
Henry describes presence as shifting from doing tasks to fully inhabiting them, which makes life feel fuller.

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In a world of constant noise, stimulation and busyness, meditation is often framed as another self-improvement tool – something to calm us down, make us more productive or fix what feels broken. But this week’s returning guest believes that this way of thinking completely misses the point.

Henry Shukman is an authorised Zen Master and Director of the Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over the years, Henry has taught meditation at organisations including Google, Harvard Business School and the Esalen Institute, and is the co-founder of ‘The Way’ meditation app.

Henry and I had the most beautiful conversation when he first appeared on my podcast on Episode 590 and his app ‘The Way’ has had such a profound impact on me, that I wanted to have a second conversation with him to explore deeper the benefits and misconceptions about meditation and the powerful role it can play in our busy, 21st century lives. I have also partnered with The Way for a free March meditation challenges - you can see all details at thewayapp.com/livemore

Henry sees meditation not as a technique for becoming a better version of ourselves, but as a way of reconnecting with something far more fundamental. Beneath all the striving, planning and doing, he says, there is already a deep sense of aliveness and meaning. Meditation simply helps us notice it again.

In our conversation, we explore:

Why having a busy, restless mind does not mean you’re “bad” at meditation – and why that restlessness is actually the very reason the practice exists
How modern life keeps our attention relentlessly outward, and why daily stillness can help us reconnect with our inner world
Why meditation works best when it’s not treated as another task on the to-do list, but as a place of rest from constant doing
Why five minutes a day is often more powerful than occasional long meditation sessions
How meditation can subtly change our experience of time, helping life feel richer and fuller
Simple, practical guidance on when to meditate, how often - and why comfort matters far more than posture or “doing it right”

What stayed with me most from this conversation is Henry’s reminder of how rarely we’re encouraged to turn inward. In a world that constantly pulls our attention outside ourselves, meditation becomes a way of rebuilding that inner relationship – one that many of us didn’t realise we’d lost. Just a few minutes, practised regularly, can change how we relate to our thoughts, our time and our lives.

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Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/632

DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.